Meanwhile, this questionable object will replace The Ridge Theatre, one of Vancouver’s few historic repertory cinemas:

Apparently this passed a City of Vancouver design panel. Is there no end to the mediocrity of architecture in this city? Thousands of years of human activity culminate in this weak, destined-to-be-shortlived mess?

Why is any developer allowed to build housing developments a whole gargantuan block at a time, period, let alone a full block of this sort of architectural poverty? This town needs more small to medium developments, by widely respected architects, one or two lots at a time, not these overgrown disasters. Where is the porosity from the street, or texture, or true variety? On this note, see also the proposed Rize at historic Main/Broadway/Kingsway.

Apologies for the ongoing pathos; it’s just that others in this town are covering board-of-trade-style Vancouver boosterism so well, and so slavishly, it seems more worthwhile to concentrate on the city’s fast-accumulating wreckage instead.

don’t forget this one too.. http://twitpic.com/9fc5tg. it’s pretty clear which demographic marketing firms are giving all their attention to. and i’m pretty sure it’s the same demographic coming up with these “funny” adverts.

An old boyfriend of mine worked on condos during as a summer job while we were at art school. He was a perfectionist and the stuff that went down on work sites drove him crazy. I heard all the horror stories about the shoddy workmanship, the various forms that hostility to the eventual buyers took (workers deliberately walling half-eaten Macdonald’s lunches into the walls, painting “FUCK YOU” on the drywall and then painting over it). The cutting of corners, the stoned carpenters, the mayhem. I’d be nervous about buying one.